Ann Arbor filmmaker Peter Leix created this short documentary piece about Artist in Residence Sharad Patel as he composes the original score for his first full-length feature film, Christian Roane. You can listen to the film’s main theme online.

With “Christian Roane” he wanted to create a rich soundtrack of memorable melodies that did not overtly emulate any popular soundtrack trends of today. Creating a foundation composition in the form of a repeating keyboard melody, he created the first theme for the film, a theme for the main character called “Mysterious Pity” or “Christian’s Theme”. The film has an eerie supernatural aura to it’s narrative, and the theme reflects that.

After completing his solo demo, he enlisted the help of artist/musician Collin McRae, initially as a session musician to add a few violin tracks over his backing orchestral emulation. Collin’s recording sessions yielded take after take of variations of improvised lead lines. Using those as bricks on the foundation of his backing tracks, Sharad created and edited melodies and counter melodies together into a cohesive composition. In effect, Collin became the co-composer creating the pieces of the lead melodies which in turn will influence the other themes still to be composed.